Israel lancaster



.l @5,1135 'ftts gutrnt @fitta Isn A EL L A Nol-rerun, o F BALTIMO R13,MARYLAND..

Let-ters Patent No. 75,773, dated March 24, 1868.

MPROVEMENT IN HARVESTERS.

'ro ALL WHoM rr MAY ooNenR'N:

l Be it known that I, ISRAELLANCASTER0` Baltimore, in the county 4ot'Baltimore, and State of Maryland,

have invented new and useful Improvementsl on Keeping-Machines; and I dohereby decla'rethat the following is a full, clear, and` exactdescription of the ,construction land operation of the same, referencebeing had to the annexed drawings, making apart of this specification,in which Figure 1 is a view of the machine seen from above. i A Y Figure2 is an elevation, showing the working-side of the driving-wheel, theedge of the reciprocatinglever, and the 4radial arms supportingit.l

Figure 3 shows the 4outline and construction of the cam-sections.

Figure 44 shows three views of the fulcrumfblock.`

Figure '5i shows the caster-wheel attachment.;

Figure 6 is a side view of the reciprocating lever. y

Figure 7 is explanatory of the construct-ion of the cam-sections, j

Figure 8 is a side and edge View of the end ot the knife-bar, where itis attached to. the lever. n

The working parts o t" this machine consist of a driving-wheelta, figs.1 and 2, provided with a. cam-circle,

b, which actuates a reciprocating lever, e, thus communicating motiontothe knife-bar r1.3 This method of operation is not'claimed by me aspart of my invention. v

. y c, fig. 1, is a bar, placed parallel to the lever c, and abouttwelve inches above it. It is fastened to the machine-frame at ff.. Thisbar supports two arms, which hold thelever c in a straight line betweenthe shaft of the driving-wheel and the knife-bar. These arms are shownat g. 2, at g g. They have an eye at one end, through which passes thelever, and are pivoted toa support from the bar e at the other end. A sthe wheel a revolvesin the direction 'of' the arrow, 'the action ot' thecams has a tendency to turn the lever with them. This movement isprevented by the armsg g with but' little friction, while at the sametime they permit the lever to oscillate in plane, cutting the knife-barand driving-wheel shaft, and parallel to them.

'At h, tig. 1, is seen the driver-s seat. z'is the caster-wheel formowing,l grass. j is the shank, holding the wheel to the machine, with amovable joint at k. The pin of the joint at cis not'set vertically, butinclined in a vertical planel parallel to the cutterbar. Thisconstruction is seen at iig. '5. The object'of this device is to raisethe cutterhar and back part of-the machine, where the caster-wheel isfastened from fourito six inches from the ground, when turning thecorners in a grass-field.

When the'icaster-wheel follows the dotted line, in the direction of thearrow, g. 1, it must go down at the same'time from the action of theoblique joint c. This raises the partof the machine spoken of..above.'The drivers seat and caster-wheel arc so placed as that, when in'the-act of cutting, the part L of the machine shall i be the heaviest,and thus remain on'the ground while working, but, in turning at thecorners, the caster-wheel changes the centre of gravity toapoint nearerL, and the part M then becomes the heaviest, and L is raised until Mtouches the'ground. This automatic movement of the cuttingbar preventsthe knives clogging-in the cut grass in turning. y

Atg. 8 is seen the end of the knife-bar, in two views. Itis hammeredthin, for six or eightinches between the first knife-section and the endof the lever, so that it will spring enough to -accommodate the movementof v the end of the lever out of `a. parallel path. This is butlittle,as the stroke is not more than three inches in a radius of three feet.The end of the knife-bar has an eye, N, through which passes u. bolt,which is firmly screwed to the'end of the lever c. V This makes ,a jointin which there-can be no wear whatever. i v

AtQ Q, iig. 1, are seen two nuts, screwing on the driving-wheel shaft.The fulcrum-block R'rests against the in ner one oil 'these nuts, Thisblock is seen at g. 4. It is made of cast iron, with a lip projectingfrom itsupper part, lwhich rests on the top ofl Athelever c. This lipprevents the block from turning with the shaft pralwayskeepingv the partS S at right angles to `the lever c. The lever oscillates on this part SS ofthe block Rf as a fulcrum. The eye inthe lever cufhgs. 2 and 6, isround on theedgenext the fulcrum-block, but is oblong 'on the otheredge. vThe edge next the block closely ts the shaft, thus preventing anyendwise movement, while the oblong character of `the eye at the backallows the lever to oscillate freely. The eye closely tits the shaftboth front and back, in a direction at right angles to the lever, Ithuspreventing any tendency to rotate on its axis.

There are three causes which, in my opinion, have always prevented thepractical operation of this kind of movement, when applied toharvesters. They are as follows: first, absolute waste of powerin thcconstruction of the cams; second, use of power in moving the greatweight in the reciprocating-lever; third, use of power in overcoming theinertia of the lever at each extremity of the stroke while it is at thedond-point.

It' the cams are made as at t, fig. 7, the average of the moving surfacewould be the diagonal of a square, and, as the only power ecuomized isthat which moves the lever in the direction of the arrows, it is plainthat fifty per cent., or one half, ofthe entire power iswasted. One halfof thev power urges the lever on the line v w, which is economized; theother half of the power urges the lever on the line v :11, which iswasted. If the cams are made as at u, iig. 7, but one quarter of thepower isA wasted.

Itis evident that with any given distance between the points of the cam,as y y, the less'the depth of the cam, or y z, the more the power iseconomized. I construct the cams with the depth, or 3'/ z, about onefifth of the distance from point to point, or'y y, and, with theanti-friction arms g g, tig. 2, I estimate that only twenty per cent. ofthe power is wasted by the ditculty of the cam construction.

To overcome the second absorption of power, I construct the lever out ofsteel,-by forging, making it thin and wide near the shaft, and taperingrit to the knife-har. I am thus enabled to get the required strengthwithin a weight of twenty-tive pounds. I

To overcome the third difficulty, I apply a spring to the lever, whichoperates from each extremity of the stroke towards the centre. The poweremployed to move this spring each way from the centre is returned on theback stroke, and the spring can be made sufficiently strong to overcomethe entire inertia of the lever, making the movement almost equivalentto a movement in a continuous straight line. 1 v

I consider this spring-device as important. Its application inpracticeis attended withthe best results. The spring is seen at l, fig. 1. It issecurely fastened to the frame at one of its ends, and attached to thelever c at its other end. It is evidentvthat it can loe-attached to thelever at almost any other place, or to the knifebar, with the sameresult. I make the spring out of hammered iron or steel.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isthe following:

In combination with a. exible knife-bar, between the point of attachmenttothe reciprocating lever and the first knife-section, a rigidattachment of the knife-bar to the cnd'of the reciprocating lever,forming a joint; immovable in any direction.

i ISRAEL LANCASTER. Witnesses:

F. W. PLUMMER,

RED. PLUMMER.

